


Hidden Reality

by wr1ter3_bl0ck



Series: Supernatural [1]
Category: Ghost Hunt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-04-04 09:00:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14016810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wr1ter3_bl0ck/pseuds/wr1ter3_bl0ck
Summary: Paranormal events are much more prevalent than one would think. And more terrifying than those TV shows portray them. Mai Taniyama is about to find out just how quickly a fun night out celebrating the next step in her life can turn into a dead end. Thankfully, SSPR is on the case.





	1. A Brush with the Unknown

A Brush with the Unknown

* * *

 

A pained groan echoed wetly in the darkness as Mai woke up confused, on her back, with pounding headache. The ache was exacerbated by the most atrocious smell she’d ever encountered. She gagged. It was a combination of vomit, rotten trash, and expired meat, all thrown together and left to fester, forgotten.

_Why I am I damp?_ She blinked sluggishly. _Where am I?_ She blinked, unable to focus. She blinked again, rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands, and blinked once more. Why was it so dark?

‘ _Oh God, I’m blind!_ ’ she thought, jerking up into a half seated position, only to hiss in pain as the throbbing in her temples redoubled and she fell back with a splop. While waiting for the pounding to end, Mai realized she was being ridiculous. More than likely wherever she was just happened to be exceptionally dark. Super dark. . .  Creepy, I can’t see my hand an inch from my face even though my eyes are as wide as they can go, dark. But despite her misgivings about the lack of light, it helped her calm down just enough to finally realize how much her left side hurt when she breathed too deeply. Carefully, she walked her fingers up her side as she inhaled, testing each rib as she went. Given the number of accidents she’d had in her formative years, Mai was well versed in figuring out if her ribs were broken or just bruised. Thankfully in this instance, it was the latter.

_I need to figure out how I got here._ She thought to herself, racking her brain to figure out the last thing she could remember before waking up. _Graduation. Michiru, Keiko, and I  graduated, then went to dinner with their parents._ They’d had a great time, and eventually split off on their own for dessert. They ate, talked, laughed, reminisced, cried, and swore to each other that they would maintain contact even though they were all going to different universities. They had even told ghost stories for old times sake.

Ghost stories! Mai bolted up from the cold hard floor again and quickly found a wall to lean against. Her head still ached terribly, and if she could see she knew her vision would be blurry. But the pain was dwarfed by the harrowing realization that one of her favorite ghost stories was real. She couldn’t believe it; she’d heard it continuously throughout her childhood, and told plenty of times herself.

No, she told herself, trying to calm her rapidly beating heart again. It wasn’t possible - some psycho was probably using the myth to scare and abduct people. It worked. There was no getting around the fact that she had indeed been terrified; frozen on the spot, unable to think, terrified.

Her fear help clear her head more, honing her senses, and she realized just how still it was; how alone she was. There was legitimately no sound other than her own breathing; nothing moved, no breeze, no skittering claws, no hum of machinery. Just - nothing. The completely lack of sight, the darkness pressing in on her had every other sense on high alert. Everything felt, smelled, tasted more intense.

“Keiko? Michiru?” Mai called out quietly because her head was still thrumming, and whoever took her was possibly lurking down here as well. Her call received no response, except for her echo bouncing farther and farther away. Was is worth it to risk moving? Whatever, no, she resolutely corrected herself, _whoever_ had taken her hadn’t restrained her, they had just left her in this puddle. Did that mean they were coming back for her, or that she wasn’t worth the time?

Mai stayed put for a few moments longer, but being patient and still had never been her strong suit. And it really did smell rancid in this place. If she didn’t get away from it soon, she would end up adding to it. Besides, at this point it was pretty clear to her that she was alone, the longer she stayed put the more she was a sitting duck. She needed to find her best friends and get out of there.

Gingerly, Mai got to her feet, using the wall for support, careful not to slip in the liquid while testing her limbs for sprains or twists, and taking shallow lungfuls of air through her mouth so as not to aggravate her side - and to avoid the smell. Honestly she was going to have to burn this outfit, which sucked, since good denim jeans weren’t cheap - she’d saved for months to buy this pair. Thankfully, abduction notwithstanding, she seems to be mostly alright physically. Hopefully, Michiru and Keiko were unharmed as well.

Since it was still impossible to see, Mai kept her left hand on the wall, her right hand stretched to its fullest extent out in front of her to keep from smacking into anything and just started walking, taking cautious, slow steps to avoid tripping. She could only hope that she was going in the right direction. Several minutes passed before Mai really started thinking about the wall she was touching. It was coarse with equally spaced vertical and horizontal divots. It seemed a safe bet that the wall was concrete or brick, which only really told her she was still in a major city. Hopefully Tokyo? When moving her hand up and down, she could feel a slight curve to the wall, almost like an arch over her head, but it was so tall that she couldn’t touch the top. It continued forward, never veering away from a straight line.

For a good thirty minutes nothing changed: Mai walked, her footsteps slapped across the floor, the room stayed dark, and the smell remained. Her breath came out in frigid puffs and she shook in her short sleeved top. Her damp clothes did nothing to help the chill. Eventually the fingertips of her right hand grazed another wall in front of her, and she stopped. Hesitantly, Mai turned her body and shifted her hands to continue on in the same manner; left hand on the wall next to her, and the right swept out and up, trying to locate the next wall.

There wasn’t one. At least, not within the ten or so tentative steps she was willing to take. God, this place must be massive and really there was no way to know which direction was the right one. For all she knew she could be heading farther in, but for now she was just going to have to trust her gut. Despite the gnawing doubt picking away at her resolution, questioning if she should keep going this way, she planned to start again when her skin prickled.

The tiny hairs on her arms and back of her neck stood on end as goosebumps erupted along her body that had absolutely nothing to do with the already icy temperature. She pulled her arm back to her chest quickly, heart rate kicking up. Her breathing became faster. She froze.

Someone or something was watching her, looking for her, hunting her. It could _see_ in this unfathomable blackest, while she was blind. Mai could feel her eyes widening in a vain attempt to take in more light, to see anything; it really was fruitless, there was none. Her head twitched back and forth trying to locate anything by sound; Nothing.

And then, as quickly as the oppressive feeling came over her, it was gone. Mai hadn’t realized she’d been holding her breath until she took in several deep gulps of air to silence her screaming lungs, despite the pain. Resuming her cautious tactile exploration yielded little for several more steps before her left wrist bumped icy metal. A thorough once over with her hands determined she’d found a ladder. She explored a few steps passed it only to find more empty space before returning back to the ladder. Something told her up was where she wanted to go. Warily, Mai placed both hands on the rung at shoulder height and her feet on the bottom one. She bounced slightly to see how it handled weight. Nothing squeaked, moved, or gave any other indication that it was unable to hold her, so Mai began her trek up. The climb took a good chunk of time. Mai had never been great at judging heights or distances, but she had to have climbed at least a half a mile.

While she never went out of her way to exercise daily, Mai considered herself to be in relatively good shape, given she walked everywhere she could in order to save money. However, by the end of her ascent she was so winded she had to just sit. Again, she was forced to breath through her mouth as the smell was even worse at this level because of a sharp metallic tinge. God she was thirsty. Her mouth and throat felt like sandpaper, and no amount of swallowing reduce the feeling. If anything it made it worse.

Mai stiffened. Had that been a whimper? Keiko and Michiru! They could be up here being held captive; or hurt; or both! She quickly pulled herself up, using the wall as support.

“Michiru?” a pause. “Keiko?”

There was no reply. A slight breeze ghosted directly past, tickling her hair. Finally some minor relief from the smell. There had to be a door, a window, some kind of opening on the other side of this room. Squaring her shoulders, Mai began her trek directly forward. Or as directly forward as one could go without being able to see. Her right hip slammed forcefully into some kind of metal table, she stumbled stepping on something unidentifiable with a firm squishy consistency, and twisted an ankle when she slipped through a puddle.

She did eventually manage to navigate the room and was lucky enough to find the door. Her numb fingers found the left side trim and a metal flip switch simultaneously. Using both hands, Mai grappled with the large U shaped handle a bit before it gave in to her shoving, flipping up. Gradually the lights above her began to flicker to life, clicking on and humming in series starting above her and continuing on from where she’d just walked, finally allowing her to see.

She desperately wished they hadn’t.

The minimal lighting revealed a cavernous man-made tunnel, wide enough and tall enough for a good sized house to fit without touching the walls or ceiling. There was a door fairly nearby, and the tunnel spanned away from her for miles in the either direction. But, even though the lighting was dim, the dark staining in this section was exceptionally visible and easily identified as blood. Some old, the deep burgundy of red wine taunted her, and some new, one spot was a vivid scarlet still dripping from the wall, but most assuredly gallons of blood had been spilled down here.

What really roiled her stomach were the bodies of several young women tossed aside in various states of decay. The young woman closest to her was the least terrifying. She lay on a table made up like a bed, this woman almost looked like a fairy tale princess in a stunning if poor fitting blue gown. If it wasn’t for the large bruises ringing her neck, mottled greyish-green skin, and pure look of panic on her once beautiful, now slacking face Mai would have thought she was sleeping. She’d been down here awhile, based on the smell. Did no one miss her? Report her absence? Nothing? There hadn’t been anything on the news about one missing person, let alone four!

The worst of the group was farthest from her, and though she hated the idea, knew she would probably get sick from the sight, Mai was inevitably drawn in. The bruising was much more vibrant on this body. Judging from the way her limbs were splayed out, it was a safe bet that the young woman had been hurled about, aggressively beaten into submission, until she stopped moving. Her shirt was missing. It had been flayed away away from her body, scattered without a thought, allowing for easy access to the girl’s back. Disgustingly, with surgical precision, someone had cut away her skin starting at her left hip, following up her side to the top of her shoulder, across the shoulders, and then back down the right side. The monster had folded it down over her legs so that the red, oozing muscles combined with it to look like a morbid, grotesque, vibrant cloak. Her stomach clenched, and her throat constricted in an effort to keep the contents where they belonged.

She’d stepped on her hand. Oh god, she’d _stepped on her hand_! Slipped in their blood. She turned from the poor woman and threw up, the loud retching and splashing echoing around the tunnel.

“Mai?” Came a soft feather light whisper of her name.

“Michiru?” Mai’s heart leapt as she pivoted, wiping her mouth. She was grateful for any reason to keep her eyes away from the last woman, eager for some sense of familiarity, and desperate to see her friends safe in this wretched place. There was nothing.

_Where was she?_ Mai wondered as her eyes quickly danced about the tunnel, looking for any sign of one of her best friends.

“Would you like the red cloak or the blue cloak?” was suddenly breathed into Mai’s ear. She whirled around with a shriek to tell Michiru off for scaring her, only to immediately twisted away from whatever had snuck up on her because there was no way in hell that was her best friend. She fell, landing hard right in a pool of blood. It was quick to saturate her clothes, coat her skin, absorb into the hair at the back of her head.

“No thank you;” Mai spoke as calmly as she could though the visible tremors shaking her body belied her fear. “I don’t need a cloak.”

Honestly a coat of any kind would be great right now, given she was wearing damp jeans and a short sleeved top. Great for sunny summer weather, not so much for damp, cold, creepy tunnels. But given she knew the story of Aka Manto she had no plans to accept anything from anyone who looked like that.

Mai hurried to her feet, and took in the figure before her. She was tall, extremely so for any race, at least a foot taller than Mai’s 5’3”, wearing a floor length woolen black cloak, so long that it completely covered her hands and feet. Unusual for a summer day, but an excellent choice for down here. She also seemed to be wearing some kind of black mask, with a curved pointed nose like a beak. What were the chances that this was just a really odd, slightly terrifying homeless woman?

The woman cocked her head to the side, confused, as though she had never before been refused, and was unsure how to proceed. Or she understood that Mai had to be cold in what she was wearing and was wondering how she could refuse the offer. She glided one step closer.

Mai stepped back, instincts screaming at her to keep a as much distance between them as she could.

“Would you like the red cloak or the blue cloak?” She asked, only this time she sounded just like Keiko. Before Mai could respond, the woman’s voice changed, becoming deeper, masculine. “You’d look _exquisite_ in red.” It breathed reverently, moving towards her again and reaching one hand out to touch her face. It had claws, _claws_. Where there should have been fingers, razor sharp curved talons protruded from the knuckles, crusted with dried blood, and the skin was graying and withered.

Foolishly, Mai slapped the hand away before it could make contact with her face.

She was backhanded so fast her eyes didn’t even register movement. One moment she was standing in front of it, the next she was flying through the air towards the door, her cheek smarting from the pain. Her body hit the ground with a rather anticlimactic thud, and there wasn’t time to completely rise before that hand was closing around her throat, hauling her up and pinning her to wall.

“That - was - rude.” It haltingly hissed at her, as though it wasn’t used to speaking much, squeezing her neck for good measure. “Choose. Red or blue?”

“Neither;” Mai wheezed out, attempting to pull the creature’s claws away from her throat. Small cuts on her hands started oozing blood where she tried to pry them away. One wrong move and she’d be in trouble. “I don’t need one.”

“NOOO! You - _must_ \- chose!” It screeched in her face. “I - will - have - my - satisss-faction! CHOOSE!”

It threw her again when she chose to keep silent. Not as far as the last time, but with enough force that Mai couldn’t get her lungs to accept air for several long moments. She rolled over, anticipating another attack, only to find that the creature - no _person_ , it had to be a person, monsters weren’t real - pacing a distance away, muttering to itself.

“ _Have to_ . . . _answer_ . . . _why?!_ ”

He seemed to be stuck having the same conversation with himself. Great. She was dealing with a masked, delusional, serial killing, homeless man hopped up on drugs. Mai took the distraction and haltingly crawled towards the door. Every now and then she’d glance back to make sure she wasn’t attracting unwanted attention. Which is why she completely missed going around one of the random loose pipes littering the floor. Her right hand smacked it more forcefully that she realized, and sent it clattering loudly over the concrete floor in front of her. She slammed her eyes shut in fear at the noise.

She opened her eyes as it came to a stop, looking over her shoulder, then clambered to her feet when the man’s head whipped in her direction. With no more distraction she’d need to move quickly. Perhaps she could make it to the door before he got to her; it wasn’t that far. But even as she took those initial steps, glancing back, he was already sprinting towards her, unintelligibly howling. The fear inspired by being stalked like this had her changing course. After some frantic scrambling, Mai finally snatched up the jagged, rusty metal pipe and brandish it as threateningly as possible, while letting loose a battle cry of her own. She felt completely ridiculous standing with her legs spread, swinging a metal pipe, but she hoped being armed would be enough of a deterrent. It wasn’t; he kept coming, taloned hands reaching for her.

She screamed, closed her eyes, and continued to wildly wield her impromptu weapon in a final desperate act. If she was going to die, at least she wouldn’t go down without a fight.

 

THWACK!!

 

The ringing metallic hit echoed throughout the room followed by a rustling thump. Cautiously, Mai opened one eye; then the other. She blinked several times in an effort to confirm what she was seeing.

Somehow one of her wild swings managed to strike him directly across the temple quite hard, dropping him like a sack of potatoes. Breathing heavily, she slowly inched towards the body, trusty pole still in hand, to confirm if he was or was not still alive. She stopped when she could see his back rising and falling shallowly. A breath of relief left her at the realization, and the pipe clattered to the ground when her body relaxed. As terrified as she was, she didn’t want to kill anyone.

Upon closer inspection she tensed up again.

Where was the blood? She was no Yagi Kanae, but she had enough upper arm strength to swing that pipe to at the very least knock him out, if not draw blood with how sharp the broken pipe was. And head wounds bleed; profusely. Mai had enough first hand experience to know that even the smallest knock to the head, if hit in the right place, caused a lot of blood. Against her better judgement she crept closer. The urge to vomit threatened to take over again, but before Mai could process what she was seeing the eyes snapped open.

She ran, hoping it was disoriented enough not to follow her, but something told her she wasn’t that lucky. Her hunch was quickly proven true, when swift footfalls echoed down the hallway after her. How she’d created any distance between herself and that monster was a mystery, but she wasn’t going to let up now. Left, right, two more lefts, another right. Ignoring the stitch forming in her side, Mai continued to follow whatever it was that was guiding her. She’d always trusted her gut instinct and it had never failed her yet. She tried to block out the image she’d seen before it woke back up but it kept popping back up, and all she could think was ‘ _not real, no very real. Not human, monster, not human_.’

“The red cloak or the blue cloak?!?”

Mai tripped, a squawk of surprise burst past her lips, as she went sprawling out in the hallway. The bitter, vengeful vehemence in the bellowed question chilled her to the core. How could something be so hateful? Why wouldn’t it just leave her alone? She pushed herself up, to run faster, desperately trying to push through the jelly feeling in her legs and ignore what felt like a twisted ankle.

_Oh thank God!_

A sliding steel door came into view as she ducked through another random hallway that emptied into a small room. It was different from every other door she’d seen in this abominable place, it had to be an exit.

It didn’t look rusted or dilapidated. In fact it looked well maintained and frequently used. So when she threw herself into opening it and nothing budged, she let out a sob of frustration. It must be locked on the other side.

_‘This was it’_ she thought as she halfheartedly banged against the door, crying. This was how she died. Not even eighteen yet, hadn’t seen the world, and she was going to die because of a stupid door.

Mai quieted her crying and pressed her ear to the door. Was that -

“Heeeelp!!” Mai screamed when she realized there truly was someone on the other side of this blasted door. Slamming her fists against the door and yelling several more times, Mai didn’t care that her throat was going hoarse and by making noise she was drawing the - whatever it was towards her. If she could make it out by drawing their attention she would; _stalker be damned._

She stopped screaming when she heard muffled voices on the other side of the door, trying to tell her something but it was difficult to make out.

From the hallway behind her she could still hear it calling out “ _THE RED CLOAK OR THE BLUE CLOAK?!?”_ as it searched for her and through the door what sounded like a man throwing himself bodily against it, before all noise ceased.

The sudden lack of noise was far more disturbing than the repetitious screeching. Straining to make out any potential sound, Mai was finally able to understand a deep voice command either she or someone else to move away from the door, when she heard the soft whisper of cloth from the other side of the room. She whipped around to see the cloaked figure cautiously waiting. It seemed just as confused as Mai was but the odd buzzing noise from beyond the door; torn as to whether it should retreat or come at her.

Mai had about thirty seconds to ponder the strange electrical sound coming through the door before several things happened at once. The creature charged, she threw herself into a corner to dodge it, and the locked steel door she’d just tried to escape through blasted off its hinges with the sound of a vigorous thunderclap and soared  through the room twisting and somersaulting about itself, spiralling towards her assailant, moving as easily as a leaf through a breeze.

Bright, dazzling, beautiful sunshine filtered through the hole where the door used to be and Mai still crouched in her corner was forced to squint, throwing up her hands to shield her eyes after so long in the gloom. Dust motes danced in the light.

An unearthly anguished scream pulled her attention from trying to see out the doorway back to the more pressing situation at hand and she jumped to her feet. To Mai’s great surprise, the - thing - was scrabbling to get out of the daylight. She squinted at it. What on earth. . .? Mai gasped, eyes widening in shock. It was burned. From what little skin was visible, angry red pustules were welting up at an alarming rate. It would seem that her attacker had an aversion to light. In another blink it was gone; back to the dark, horrific tunnels it had just chased her through. She was _safe_.

With a sigh of relief, Mai turned towards her rescuers. Which, of course, was when her knees decide they didn’t work anymore. Because nothing could go her way, now could it?


	2. S.S.P.R - the Society of Spiritual and Paranormal Research

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so so sorry for how long this has taken me. I really meant to have this ready and up weeks ago, but I had some family stuff come up that took precedence. Not gonna lie, this chapter and the next were a bit difficult to really bring together in a way that felt right to me. I still don't think I quite have it, but I can't just keep editing it indefinitely. Also, thank you to everyone who left kudos and just took the time to read the previous chapter and this one. Constructive criticism welcome! Enjoy (hopefully) this chapter!

S.S.P.R - the Society of Spiritual and Paranormal Research

* * *

 “Whoa there little lady!” a deep, masculine voice called out as she tumbled into her graceless descent to the cold, concrete floor. She screwed her eyes shut, braced for an impact that never happened thanks to the large hands that carefully caught her before her knees aggressively introduced themselves to the ground.

Cautiously, Mai opened her eyes one at a time. It took a little time for her to adjust to the light spilling in from the doorway behind the man holding her, but she was able to see shaggy brown hair, and warm brown eyes staring down at her in concern. She blinked, stunned to see a kind face after the last thirty minutes.

“Hey, you’re safe now, alright? We’ve got you.”

For what felt like the first time in her life, Mai stayed silent, eyes strangely unfocused on the man in front of her. When she didn’t still didn’t respond the man scooped her up one arm under her knees, the other around her back, and proceeded to carry her out of the nightmare fueling hellhole. She still hadn’t said anything, but what waited for her just outside the door shocked her into a verbal response.

“Huh?”

There was a veritable swarm of police forces just outside the door. At least a half dozen police cars parked around the door, lights flashing in the mid morning sunlight, two ambulances behind the perimeter of cars, twenty officers decked out in dark tactical gear ready to storm the building once given the order with more hanging back, nearly the same amount of CSUs waiting for an all clear to proceed with evidence gathering, and two teams of detectives who must be running the investigation. Mai could only gawk.

“Oh my God, is that Mai!?! Mai! Monk, you found her in there?” Mai has never been more relieved to see someone she barely knew. Standing with the inspectors was none other than the witty campus tour guide she’d met months back.

“Yasuhara-sempai!” was all she could say before she burst into tears both from her ordeal and relief. She really was safe she thought as she sobbed and her body shook. An irrational thought possibly; Her ankle throbbed, her sides were sore, and she was covered in unknown liquids, but she was alive and someone in this mass of unknown faces knew her. She timidly tried to get out of the man’s arms, but since he was already walking her in that directions she wasn’t entirely inclined to move more than necessary. And he really wasn’t willing to let her anyway, as his arms tightened the instant she’d started to squirm.

“Hey, hey, shhhhh, it’s ok.” he soothed as the officers raced passed them and through the doorway at some unseen signal to proceed. “There’s no rush. We’re gonna get you to one of the ambulances to have you checked over and Yasu can be with you the whole time.”

Mai’s response was a hiccuping sniffle and a nod. To her surprise, a whole string of people followed them to one of the ambulances. The moment the man set her on the stretcher and the EMTs started checking her over she was bombarded with questions from all sides.

“Can you tell me your name?” one of the EMTs asked kindly as he held first one eye open and then the other, shining a small penlight into each of them. She opened her mouth to respond but -

“How did you get down there? What did you see? Did you see his face?” A younger, overly eager detective asked, excitedly.

“Sir, we need you to step back. Miss, what’s your name? Do you know what day it is? The date?”

“Can you give us a description of your abductor? Height, weight, clothing? Anything?”

“Detective please -”

“She could have information vital to this case!”

With each subsequent question Mai’s bloodshot, watery eyes bounce back and forth between the EMT and the detective, trying to figure out who to answer first. In the end the decision wasn’t left up to her; just as the entire exchange became entirely overwhelming, and more tears began pouring down her face, a deep, quiet, yet powerful voice interrupted.

“Perhaps it would be better to allow the paramedics time to see to her health and mental state before interrogating her Detective Kusanagi?” A dark haired young man dressed in all black stood just to the right of the back of the ambulance Mai was sitting in, flanked by an enormously tall, lithe man with black hair covering one of his grey eyes and - Mai blinked repeatedly, shut her eyes completely before looking again - yes another young man who looked just like the first, right down to the no nonsense expression. The only difference was his shirt; his was a deep navy polo. Behind them stood Yasuhara-sempai and the man who’d carried her to the ambulance.

The detective had the grace to look cowed while being scolded by someone even younger than himself.

“But she is the _only_ victim we’ve found alive! We need to know what makes her different. What happened that -”

“The only one _ALIVE_?!” Mai shrieked, terror gripping her anew as she realized her best friends, her only family left, were still stuck in that nightmare. The detective’s face sagged with the realization that he’d given out confidential case details in his eagerness to get information, but that soon became the least of his worries. Mai quickly hopped down, hissing at the pain radiating from her ankle when she twisted to ducked under the EMT’s arm, dodged the detective, and made to run back into the building.

A black clad arm looped around her waist before she made it two steps passed the surrounding group.

“No! No, no no no no! Noo! Let me go! They’re still in there!” She screamed, struggled, twisted, attempted in vain to pry the blocking appendage from her body, but it was no use. She went limp.

“Please,” she whispered in defeat, tears streaming down her face again as she was partially pulled, mostly carried back to the ambulance. “They’re all I have. I can’t -”

“Idiot.” The man behind her commented as he hoisted her back into the ambulance to everyone’s shock.

“What?” was all Mai could get out as she stared at him.

“What do you possibly expect to be able to do? You barely made it out alive based on the state of you and you want to go back in? How stupid are you?” His sea blue-gray eyes held her own cinnamon ones in what she could only describe as contempt. Mai gaped for a few moments before retorting.

“Ok, so it may not have been that great of an idea, but I can’t leave them alone! We’re always there for each other no matter what.” She glared back with equal fervor.

“You are in no shape to be rescuing anyone, and they are not being left behind. Surely you are not so unobservant that you missed the dozens of officers going into the Tunnel?” He deadpanned.

Mai sucked in a breath and narrowed her eyes even more. Her first thought was that this jerk needed a swift punch to the face followed very quickly by the realization that he was right. Her shoulders sagged with that knowledge, but before she could apologize his doppleganger stepped in.

“I think what my brother means to say, is that you’ve just been through an horrendous ordeal and are in shock.” The twin in the navy shirt interrupted, gently “Also, there are plenty of authorities here who can handle the situation. You should focus on making sure you are alright at this point. You want to be well when you’re all back together, right?” He smiled winningly at her, and she could only stare confused, faced with such affable kindness. Her mind completely blanked on how to respond. Instead, her eyes bounced back and forth between the two. One so obviously kind, the other a massive jerk. How could they possibly be related?

“Ugh.” The harsher of the two twins made a sound of disgust, before continuing, rolling his eyes. “Yes, we’re handsome, can we get on with this?” Mai glared. _What a narcissist. Naru the Narcissist_ She thought angrily, until she realized she just been staring at them for quite some time without responding.

“Umm, right.” She said, blushing, dropping her gaze too embarrassed to think of anything else.

“Excellent! So, it’s decided. Kaito and Yui will check you over, and then we’ll see if you are up for questions.” He made to step away, before he looked to the detectives, all cheery openness gone. “I think, as it was our tip that lead you here, perhaps it would be best if we spoke with her first?”

“Come on now Maseo, you guys don’t even know if -”

“No, we don’t, but it was your junior detective, who riled her back up in the first place. Her speaking with him again, so soon, could be counterproductive, as she seems easily -” his brother paused searching for the right word as he met her gaze, “sensationalized.”

“Hey now-!”

“Alright Shibuya-san, you’ve made your point.” Detective Mako spoke with a slight smile, “However, I do not see why we cannot all interview her at the same time. Dissemination of information is critical at this stage, is it not? And this way, the poor girl does not have to live through the ordeal more than once.”

Shibuya-san seemed to disagree, until he glanced over at Mai again.

“Very well, I agree to your terms. After the medics and SOCO are through with her, we will begin the interview.”

It took the Scenes of crime officers (SOCO) 45 minutes to comb everything they possibly could out of her hair: dried bits of blood, clumps of mud, one of them mentioned a beetle, the list went on. They spent another 15 minutes on her fingernails, again scraping out dirt, dried blood, potential skin cells, and other detritus. Embarrassingly, they also had to take her clothing as it was now considered evidence. Mai thanked whatever deity that was listening that she didn’t have to leave the back of the ambulance, and that most of the people weren’t paying any attention to her.

Next, the paramedics moved back in to assess her injuries. After a thorough examination, they determined that her left side was severely bruised, she’d sprained her right ankle, pulled a muscle in her left wrist, the cut on her face would need some butterfly stitches, her cheek would be bruised for the next week, and  while the knot on the back of her head would take several days to go down, she was lucky to only have a minor concussion. All in all, she was exceptionally lucky to be alive and to come away from the ordeal as whole as she had. After the examination, the female paramedic, Yui escorted her to a portable shower and offered her a set of scrubs from the back of the ambulance with a few kind words.

“You’re not the first to have to surrender clothes to the police, and you won’t be the last. None of us are judging you here. Be really careful not to apply too much pressure on the bruised areas. Once you’re clean we can get the stitches in and then you’ll have to keep them dry.”

Surprisingly, the scrubs fit her well, Mai thought as she pulled them on after her shower. She was thankful for the long sleeves and pants that hid just how roughly she’d scrubbed at her skin. The bright pink tinge definitely wasn’t from the water temperature. Yui brought her back to the ambulance for her stitches.

Yasuhara was waiting for her when she exited the vehicle. Just Yasuhara, messing around on his phone leaning against the ambulance. Mai glanced around in confusion, tugging the shock blanket closer around her shoulders.

“Yasuhara-san?”

“Oh, Mai-chan, sorry about that, I didn’t hear you come out. Ready to go?” He asked her, tucking his phone into a pants pocket. Mai looked around again.

“Go?” She croaked, and winced at the soreness in her throat.

“Didn’t the detectives tell you? Or the bosses?” Mai shook her head. “Hmmmm. That’s right, they discussed it after SOCO collected you.” Yasuhara shifted his glasses farther up the bridge of his nose and gesturing for Mai follow him before continuing. “Given everything that happened, they thought it would be best to interview you somewhere else, you know, less traumatic. Since I know you, I offered to drive you there.”

“Thank you Yasuhara-san.”

“No worries. And at this point, I think you can just call me Yasu, yeah? This is me, in case you thought it might have been any of the other cars here.” He pointed to a deep blue Nissan Leaf, the only car there that wasn’t a police vehicle, sarcasm evident in tone. Mai smiled lightly, settling into the passenger’s seat when Yasuhara handed her a grocery bag.

“What?”

“The paramedics gave it to me while you were showering and getting stitched up.” Mai looked through the bag as Yasu started driving. “There’s a mild pain reliever for your concussion, sprain, and overall pain. I think I saw an extra ace wrap. Oh, and some fancy new ice pack that you just have to crack to make it work!” He pulled the car onto the road and then started searching the back seat as she opened the pills. “Here, I’ve got a - don’t look so worried, I do this all the time! Somewhere back here, aha!” He put a water bottle in her hand triumphantly. “Now you can take your meds.”

She didn’t realize how thirsty she was until she took that first sip; downing most the bottle before remembering that she had pills in her hand. With what was left she swallowed them and leaned back into the seat. The gentle hum of the tires on the lane lulled Mai, and she chose to focus on that, leaving her mind little else to do, spacing out. It was another ten minutes before their conversation resumed, a small bump in the road jostling Mai out of her own head.

“Where are we?” Mai asked, baffled by the small road and lack of proper lighting. Nothing looked familiar to her.

“This is a service road that leads to the maintenance areas of the Kanda River Tunnel. We’ll be back on the main roads soon.” Yasuhara flipped the lever for his turn signal. “You’re incredibly lucky, you know that? If it had been the rainy season, I can’t imagine how much water would have been in there.”

“Lucky.” Mai responded softly. She was quiet for the rest of the drive, gazing out the window without really looking at where they were, buildings flickering passed. She was still in Tokyo, that was all that really mattered to her.

“-i? Mai?” She shrieked, jumping when a hand touch her shoulder. Yasuhara quickly pulled it back, his face completely apologetic.

“Sorry, you weren’t responding to your name.”

“No, I’m sorry, I should have been paying attention. What is it?”

“We’re here.” He tilted his head indicating the older brick building out his window and started to get out of the car, but he paused with his hand on the door handle. “You don’t have to do this right now, you know that? We can just tell them you aren’t ready; come back tomorrow?” But Mai was shaking her head before he’d finished.

“If I put this off, I could forget something. I forget something and then Keiko and Michiru may not make it. I have to know I did everything I could, in case” she paused to take a breath, quelling some of the panic rising up; “- Let’s do this.” She told him firmly, determined. He nodded.

After shutting the car door behind her, Mai looked around the less than crowded street, realizing once again that she didn’t recognize where she was. She really needed to start paying more attention.

“Uh, where are we?”

“You must have been seriously out of it on the drive over, huh?” He asked kindly. “We’re in Shibuya, at the Shibuya-sans’ office. Let’s go, boss man isn’t fond of waiting; thinks it’s a waste of time.” He smirked at her while holding the door open for her to enter first.

The small lobby dated the building: linoleum flooring, slightly peeling wallpaper, flickering fluorescent lights, and decorative wood columns all looked straight out of the 80’s. Yasuhara lead her to a narrow stairwell to the second floor before she could see the building directory, casually guiding her through a building he was obviously familiar with.

“Watch out, there’s a nail that’ll catch your shirt.” He indicated the perpetrator on the right as they went up the stairs and then they were on the second floor.

“That’s old man Abe-san’s place. He doesn’t leave often, but when he does there’s a solid  chance he’s forgotten pants.”

“Don’t step there, that floorboard is completely loose. Once saw a client get smacked in the face because he stepped right on the edge; really didn’t start the case off on a good note.”

“Why doesn’t anyone fix it?” Mai asked giggling, carefully sidestepping the part of the floor he’d indicated.

“Landlord. Doesn’t want us doing repairs because he’s a control freak constantly worrying about getting sued if someone gets hurt, but he’s also lazy.”

“But what if someone gets hurt because the repairs haven’t been done?”

“Yes, we’ve tried explaining that. He -”

“YOU WENT OUT ON A _HUNCH_ WITHOUT ME?!?” An irate woman’s voice halted any further conversation from Yasuhara. It had come from the office at the end of the hall that he had been leading her to: a frosted glass door with the letters S.S.P.R. etched into it in gold greeted them and several loud voices were now drifting into the hallway as well. Mai hesitated, toying with her fingers; this could be a very personal conversation.

Yasuhara, it would seem, had no such reservations, as he boldly shoved the door wide open. Somehow, even with his eccentric hand flourishing, their entrance went basically unnoticed. Peering around Yasuhara’s side, Mai surveyed the room.

It was surprisingly inviting for such a small office reception area. There was a long cloth pewter couch facing away from them, two matching chairs facing towards it, and a deep espresso coffee table between them. There was plenty of light coming from the wall of windows behind the half circle reception desk, espresso as well, at the farthest side of the room. Mai marvelled at the twisting particle eddies the sunshine revealed. Before she could really inspect the rest of the room, her attention was pulled to a stunning red headed woman standing over a man lounging in one of the chairs.

“You all are unbelievable! You’ve seen the crime scene photos, you know that this thing is viciously murdering people, and you went traipsing off after it anyway because our part time researcher was suspicious that his new girlfriend wasn’t answering her phone.”

“I’ll have you know,” Yasuhara interrupted before the other man could say anything. “that my hunches are usually correct, and this one was.” He smirked at the woman as she spun around, obviously startled at not having heard them enter.

“And I’m not his girlfriend.” Mai interjected quietly, eyes darting to the floor as the red headed woman’s harsh glare zeroed in on her. It was uncomfortably quiet for a few seconds as the woman scrutinized her.

“Of course you’re not.” She agreed in a gentler tone, approaching them confidently in four inch stilettos, mutely clicking over the area rug. A subtle floral and citrus scent wafted around her as the woman’s manicured hand appeared under her chin to lift it. She paused just before she actually touched Mai. “I know you’ve already been examined by the EMTs, but I would like to check these stitches. Call it professional curiosity. May I?”

Mai nodded and lifted her face towards the light a bit more while the woman gently probed her cheek. Yasu stepped away, giving them privacy, and immediately started a whispered conversation with the other man in the room.

“I’m Ayako Matsuzaki and the moron with the stupid hair is Houshou Takigawa. I’m sure neither of those _idiots_ told you before you got here.” Her second sentence was louder than the first and mostly aimed at the other two.

“Hey! At least I don’t have to dye mine, you old wind bag!” Takigawa snarked back, approaching them, and then quickly continued before Ayako could snark something back. “How is the little lady?”

“The stitches look uniform and clean, I don’t think I could have done any better. Her eyes are a little unfocused though, which is concerning.” Ayako informed him before Mai could say anything.

“They told me I have a mild concussion.” Mai interrupted, and then turned to address Takigawa with a deep bow, her scrubs rustling with the movement. “And thank you. For getting me out of there.” She elaborated as she straightened up, clenching her shaking hands.

“No problem.” He waved off her gratitude, “It’s nice to be able to save someone, instead of - you know.” He trailed off sheepishly, his hands gesturing uselessly in front of him before he cleared his throat and threw his arms wide. “Anyway, welcome to S.S.P.R.!”

“What is that? Some sort of private investigative agency?”

But Mai’s question went unanswered as the farthest office door on the left opened and the other three men from the scene emerged.

“Yasuhara, inform the police that Miss Tanyama has arrived. Maseo, make tea.” Yasu immediately slipped his phone from his front slacks pocket and stepped away through another door to make his phone call. Shibuya-san and the taller man made their way towards Mai. Maseo-san, however . . .

“Ahem.” he cleared his throat, staring down his twin with a raised eyebrow when he had his brother’s attention. Neither of them spoke for several moments; neither broke eye contact, a silent conversation of fluctuating eyebrows, furrowed foreheads, and smirks between two siblings that could only be  understood from years of growing up together. Finally Shibuya-san sighed, closed his eyes, and pinched the bridge of his nose. When he finally spoke, it was through gritted teeth; as if asking caused him legitimate pain.

“Please.”

“Was that so difficult?” Maseo positively beamed before heading through an open doorway near the receptionist’s desk. His brother ignored the comment and continued on as if no one else had spoken. The sound of cabinets opening and closing followed by running water could be heard.

“Miss Matsuzaki; in regards to your earlier comment: whatever is killing these people, is targeting young women, between the ages of sixteen and twenty-two. We were in no danger. Secondly, I was under the impression that we are trying to solve this case; so yes, we will be chasing down every hunch, every clue, every scrap of information we get until this case is closed. If you have a problem with that, there’s the door.” He nodded definitively in the direction of the entrance when he finished his chastising.

“But why didn’t you tell _me_? You all have phones, and I know at least Yasuhara can text! But nooooooo - I show up to the office and all of you are gone; except Yuna, who can only tell me that you all left in a hurry on a hunch about the newest case. Nothing about where you’re going, who got the information. Nothing!” Her arms ended up folded across her torso after finishing her rant.

“ I own - co-own,” he corrected forcefully at the loud cough from the kitchenette, “this company, I am the lead investigator, therefore I choose who goes on what assignments. You were not here, and we had to act quickly if we wanted to save Ms. Taniyama. It made the most sense to get to the location quickly, rather than wait around here for you to just show up. Or would you have preferred finding another girl deceased?” He deadpanned. A faint whistling could be heard from where Maseo-san had disappeared.

Ayako’s face colored, chagrin and anger warring for dominance as her hands fisted at her sides.

“Come on Shibuya-san, you don’t have to be that harsh. She’s a member of this team too.” Takigawa remarked sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Who was not here on time and did not call or give any other notification that she would be late. I fail to see the relevance of your statement.”

“Tea!” Maseo interrupted not a moment too soon; Ayako looked ready to claw someone’s eyes out. He settled a serving tray with nine cups and a pot of tea on the table as Yasu stepped back into the main room.

“Detective’s are heading up. They were already on their way here.” He informed Naru before flopping onto the nearest surface and hesitantly reaching for a cup, and everyone else followed to take a seat. “What, uh, what do we have this time Maseo?”

“Non-experimental, this time Yasu.” Maseo laughed. Mai watched as nearly everyone showed some sign of relief before helping themselves to tea, then began to follow Yasu and ask what he meant.

“Here.” A cup was thrust towards her before she even moved. Her fingers barely managed to get around the heated porcelain before the supporting hand pulled away, causing a little tea to slosh over the lip of the cup as Shibuya-san walked away, picked up his own cup and sat in the one of the single occupant chairs. It was only then her frigid fingers and minor trembling registered.

“Thank you?” slipped out hesitantly as she carefully moved to sit next to Yasu, sighing in relief as the pain in her ankle lessened considerably. She took an experimental sip: chamomile. It was just hot enough that she could feel a pleasant warmth radiate through her chest, and she drank greedily, realizing that she felt numb all over, not just in her fingers.

Taking advantage of the flurry of activity, Mai cautiously studied everyone while pouring herself a second cup of tea. The tall black haired man readied a laptop, Takigawa and Ayako resumed their bickering at a much more reasonable volume on the two seater couch, Yasuhara messed around on his phone, and the twins seemed to be reading books. Or Maseo-san was reading; Shibuya-san had pulled out a pencil and was writing something down. It was almost like watching a family settle down for an evening in. She felt a small smile crawl across her lips as she looked back over them all.

“We are a branch of the Society of Spiritual and Paranormal Research, Miss Taniyama.” Mai’s head swiveled back to Shibuya-san so quickly she felt her neck crack. He hadn’t even looked up from his black book.

“The Society of - what?”

A series of loud, rapid knocks pulled everyone’s attention to the front door as it swung open, admitting the two detectives from earlier. They wasted no time with pleasantries and, after sitting down, turned to Mai. Her shoulders hunched from the attention.

“Well Miss Taniyama, are you prepared to give a full account of what has transpired over the last seventy-two hours?”  The lead detective asked gently, a true look of concern reflected in his eyes. She shakily returned her cup to the table.

“I was gone for that long?!” She exclaimed, looking around at all of them for confirmation, rubbing her hands up and down her thighs anxiously. For the most part all she got was pity and silence, which didn’t last that long, as the eager detective quickly jumped in.

“No, you whereabouts are unknown for only the last twenty-four hours, but we’re thinking there’s a chance you may have interacted with your abductor before you were taken. If you can retrace your steps, tell us what you did, and anything that struck you as out of the ordinary, it could help us find him!”

“I think what junior Detective Inspector Kusanagi means,” the other detective cut him a reprimanding look as he poured Mai more tea and handed it to her. “Is that we understand how hard this is for you. But whatever you’re willing to tell us would be greatly appreciated.”

“Thank you, Detective . . . ?” She trailed off blushing, casting her eyes down, embarrassed that she didn’t remember his name and took a sip of tea to try to cover it. He just smiled at her.

“It’s not a problem dear. You’ve been through quite a lot in such a short time, I think you’re allowed to forget the name of some old fuddy duddy detective, hmm?” She tremulously smiled at his use of ‘fuddy duddy’ while he shifted forward on the couch. He deftly removed his wallet from a back pocket, fished out his card, and handed it to her while replacing his wallet. “Senior Detective Inspector Mako, Haru. In case you think of anything else after this evening.”

“Thank you, Detective Inspector Mako. I’ll try to be as helpful as I can!” She bowed even from her seated position. He was a kind man; he deserved to know he had her respect.

“That’s all we can ask of you. Are you ready?” After another sip of tea, she nodded. “Then let’s get started. It’s Friday, March 23th at 11:15 AM. Talk us through your routine starting from Wednesday.”

So Mai told them. She woke up late that morning and skipped breakfast to make it to her finals on time. There was work that evening as usual and she stayed late to make some extra cash. Thursday had been a day off, one she spent most of in her apartment just enjoying not having to study for the first time in months. Keiko and Michiru had come over in the early afternoon to get ready for graduation and drop of their bags to spend the night. They’d managed to make it to the graduation ceremony early despite Keiko’s hair disaster, Michiru’s last minute outfit change, and Mai making it all the way to the lobby of her building only to have to race back to her apartment because she forgot her wallet.

“It was all typical stuff. I didn’t even trip walking across the platform!” Mai told them after what felt like hours of talking, mostly her, with the occasional interruption from Detective Mako. The S.S.P.R. group had remained oddly silent. “We went out that night to celebrate given everything. We all got into university, we managed to graduate high school with good marks; it was a final send off.”

“A last hurrah?” Detective Mako asked, pen poised over his notebook.

“Well, they’re going to universities outside of Tokyo, we’re still planning on meeting up, but it will be harder, we know that. Especially now that I’ve picked up a second job. Anyway, after graduation we all went out to dinner with their parents. It was great, they took us to our favorite sushi place, it’s expensive, so we only go on really special occasions, but they let us order whatever we wanted! And then after dinner, they told us to go enjoy the evening! We figured they’d want to spend more of the night with us. So we took a cab to the other side of town to try a new Wagashi place that opened up about a month ago?  It was so good! Best I’ve had in awhile.”

“Where was this?”

“Mr. Yoko’s?”

“ Ah, yes. My wife is fond of them. Did you take them to go, so you could walk around?”

“No, I mean, we planned to, but once we got there, it was actually pretty chilly. We picked a table inside instead; that way we’d get tea service too.”

“And then what?”

“We just talked.” She sighed. “About what we wanted for ourselves in the future. Who all from class was going to university, who wasn’t. What movie we wanted to try to see in the next couple weeks. We gossiped. Just - talked.” She sniffled. They’d just about made it to where her memories ended; where the nightmare began. Yasuhara’s hand gently landed on her shoulder and she jumped.

“Do you need a break?” They were all staring at her, willing to give her time, but ready for her to continue. She took a sip of the now frigid tea and then shook her head.

“No, I need to finish this.”

“How long were you there?”

“A couple hours? I think?” She tucked some wayward strands of hair behind her ear. “None of us had plans for the next morning, so it wasn’t a big deal. But, Keiko was getting tired, so we figured we’d all use the restroom and then take a cab back to my place.” Her breaths were shallow and her hands were shaking.

“We can stop -”

“No detective. I appreciate the concern, but if I stop I won’t want to continue. If I keep going, I won’t have to talk about it again.”

“Very well.” He sighed.

“The bathroom was empty when we got there. We . . .” she glanced around embarrassed. How exactly do you politely say you went to the bathroom? “did what we needed to do, and went to the sinks to wash our hands. We were still talking, but we all heard it. A voice, kinda whispery, but clear ‘ _Do you like the red cloak? Or the blue cloak?_ ’ At first, they thought it was me, and I figured it was one of _them_ , but after we’d all blamed each other it asked again. I didn’t recognise the voice.”

“Miss Taniyama-san.” Shibuya-san called, speaking up for the first time during the whole of the interview. “Why would you all assume it was one of you?”

“Oh.” She felt so small under his inquisitive gaze. “It’s how we met. We were all in the same Japanese literature class in grade nine. We had an assignment to write a short story in the style of our favorite author, and I wrote about Aka Manto. I’ve always liked ghost stories. So I took the general storyline of Aka Manto, and made it my own? Anyway, after we read them in class, Keiko and Michiru came up, introduced themselves, and we’ve been best friends ever since. We swap ghost stories at sleepovers, and in the end they always beg me to retell it because I have the best ‘spooky’ voice.”

“What happened next?”

“What happened?!” Fury coursed through her; her voice rocketed. Why were they all so calm about this? “We freaked out! No one was in that bathroom when we went in, and no one came in while we were there! But,” she paused her anger fading as quickly has it had come, leaving her feeling more exhausted than ever, despondent. “the handicapped door was closed when I came out of the stall. . .” Mai trailed off, only just remembering the fact.

“Is it possible it was closed the whole time?”

“What were you talking about in the bathroom?”

“No,” she answered Shibuya slowly before determination filled her again. “I _know_ all the stall doors were open when we went in. The shop hadn’t been that crowded by the time we were ready to leave. What does it matter what we were talking about, detective?”

“It’s possible that your conversation was a trigger for your attacker. Something one of you said resonated with him and that could be why you were taken.” Mai pursed her lips, and sighed.

“My break up. My boyfriend, _ex_ -boyfriend, got a scholarship to a university in the United States - a full ride. He didn’t think a long term relationship would work, and after talking about we ended it on Monday.” She rapidly blinked back the tears attempting to fall, drew in a shuddering breath trying to calm her racing heart, but was ultimately unsuccessful. “And now I’ve lost both my best friends! THEY’RE DEAD!” She jumped to her feet. “I SAW THE BODIES, OK?!?” She screamed as several people tried to interrupt, and began pacing, hands clutching her hair.

“Those girls, they’re dead! And the only reason I’m not is because I’m lucky!”

During a brief pause, where Mai took another shuttering breath and everyone else sat in stunned silence, a deep masculine voice cut in.

“There is an excellent chance they are alive.”


	3. Open Your Eyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firstly, I owe all of you a huge apology. I really don't have a reason for this delay. Little bit of life, little bit of writer's block. I know I said that about the last chapter, but this one was a bear. For the longest time it felt like I was trying to fit a square peg through a round hole and every time I reread it all I could think was "Well this is awful. Don't make them read this!" So, yeah, delays. Still not completely happy with it, but other than continuously rewriting it what can you do?
> 
> Secondly, a massive thank you to everyone leaving kudos (and my one comment so far: you were a big reason I made myself sit down and really work through chapter 3)! I hope you all like it!

Open Your Eyes

* * *

 

“What?” Mai whispered breathlessly, as she whirled to address the stoic man with the laptop, hair slapping her face with the swiftness of her actions. She quickly swiped it away from her eyes. His towering well dressed form was rigidly positioned in a comfortable looking wingback chair that matched the rest of the office furniture. Despite his stiff posture, he seemed quite at home there, and Mai briefly wondered if they all considered it ‘his spot’ as it were, but her thoughts swiftly came back to the matter at hand when she caught his eye. His stare was almost too intense, too piercing, made all the more austere by the dark fringe covering the entirety of his right eye and Mai found herself grateful that she didn’t have to maintain eye contact for long when he adjusted his laptop for her to see the screen.

“These are your friends, yes? One Kurosawa, Michiru and Nakano, Keiko; both of the Shibuya prefecture? We didn’t find any evidence of them in the Kanda River Tunnel.” He explained, once Mai confirmed that the smiling side-by-side images were indeed her friends, and then swiveled the laptop back around to resumed his near silent typing.

“They - weren’t there?” Fresh confusion coursed through her; she could have sworn they’d been taken too. Yasu and Maseo-san were both quick to guide her as she stumbled back to her spot on the couch with a relieved sigh. At least had, potentially, never even set foot in that nightmare. A throat cleared and Mai found she was once again in conversation with the kind detective.

“As Lin mentioned, so far we’ve found no evidence that two more young women were down there with you. And none of the - others bear any resemblance to your friends. As of right now, give this lack of evidence, we strongly believe there is a chance that they are still alive. It is still concerning that no one has heard from them since the night of your graduation. So, if you can finish, we may get answers that could help us find them.” Detective Mako told her. She knew he didn’t mean it as a lecture, but she felt as if she’d been told off by a favorite teacher and gave a very subdued nod.

“So, you guys were in the bathroom right? Did it smell? The men’s rooms always smell; doesn’t matter where you go.” The monk spoke loudly, his vain attempt to inject humor into the situation falling flat. “Ow! Woman -”

“Ignore him, we all do.” Ayako told her after smacking him upside the head. Mai watched the exchange in confused amusement before remembering they were all waiting on her.

“Um, yeah the voice asked us about cloaks -”

“Just cloaks? You were more specific earlier.” Shibuya-san cut in, his pen poised, halted towards the bottom of his notebook, eyes on her.

“Right.” She flushed. “It asked us if we wanted a red cloak, or a blue cloak. And -”

“Just those two colors? No other options? Perhaps yellow?” He interjected, pen whizzing away across his notebook; no indication he cared at all that he’d interrupted her again.

“Just those two.” She answered with annoyed confidence. Rather than have him cut her off, she waited for his next question. His eyes snapped up at the continued silence, sharply boring into hers when she didn’t continue. When she still didn’t say anything he quirked an eyebrow, as if telling her to get on with it. She frowned and huffed frustrated. He’d been cutting her off in the first place!

“We freaked out, obviously! I tried to find where the voice was coming from, but then I started to get really sleepy out of nowhere and, I guess I passed out? I don’t remember anything after that in the bathroom. When I woke up, it was totally dark, and I was by myself.”

Yasu stalled her with a raised hand, his cheerful, teasing attitude from before replaced by a calm and subdued one.

“You don’t need to tell us about the room you woke up in. We’ve already seen it, and the crime scene techs are combing it for evidence, DNA, all that jazz..”

“But, I didn’t wake up in the upper room. I found that one. When I woke up, I was lower down, in a smaller tunnel.” Mai informed them, a small crinkle creasing the area between her eyebrows. The detectives shared a look and sat forward at that information.

“Then by all means, please, continue.” It took another hour of back and forth for Mai to finish giving the bare bones of what happened, up to them rescuing her. Somewhere during her tale Maseo-san had gotten up to heat another kettle of water when it had been emptied. Minor conversations broke out about her story when he came back, tea already steeping. Detective Mako cleared his throat to refocus everyone’s attention.

“Mai, how would you describe the attacker?”

“Umm -” Mai swallowed nervously, eyes on her fingers as she focused on lacing and unlacing them together rather than than anyone else in the room. “Tall? I think they might have been European?”

“You saw them? You can give a description?? Why didn’t you tell us that before?!” Detective Kusanagi slammed his hands against the table as he leaned forward. The silence following his outburst was deafening and only seemed to emphasize her flinch back into the couch. Despite everyone staring at him, Kusanagi remained fixated on her, chest heaving, rage etching his thin, reddening face.

“Take a walk Kusanagi, cool off. I’ll finish this up.”

“I’m fi -”

“That is an order from your superior, not a suggestion Junior Detective Kusanagi.” Detective Mako told him firmly. There was brief awkward moment, where everyone avoided eye contact, then Kusanagi stormed out flustered and red faced, slamming the door behind him. The glass inset rattled.

“I never thought I’d say this, but I miss old Takahashi.” The monk sighed running a hand over his face, while Yasu plied Mai with another cup of tea.

“Yes well, he was smart; knew what was good for him and retired.”

“Then what does that make you Detective?”

“Too damn stubborn.” He smirked at Shibuya, eyes twinkling in mirth. He then shifted back to facing Mai, a more somber look on his face. “I know that his actions are inexcusable, but I ask that you give Kusanagi some leeway. He’s a good cop, a hell of a detective; graduated in the top five percent of his class, and aced the detective’s exam on his first attempt. He’s just a little close to this one.” He stalled, weighing his options and then continued. “We have reason to believe his half-sister may have been one of the first taken. No one has seen or heard from her in months. They were quite close.” Mai covered her mouth in horror at the news. No one should have to go through losing family.

“That’s no excuse to treat a victim like a suspect. Miss Taniyama is a seventeen year old girl, not a hardened criminal. Only those with sharp minds and well trained intellects, can recall everything with clarity and in the correct sequence.” Shibuya-san cut across the detective’s attempt to cover for his partner. “And if he’s what the top five percent has to offer, I’d hate to see the top one percent.”

“Why hasn’t he recused himself from this case? If what you think is true, it’s too personal.” Maseo-san inquired, looking concerned, while Shibuya-san jotted down more information in his black notebook.

“We don’t have enough detectives in the loop. You know that. So far they’ve only mandated two teams of detectives for this kind of work, because they don’t think it’s justifiable. Or believable. Most people in the department will do anything to fit a case to a normal narrative. So in the eyes of our superiors, how many cases are we really going to have like this one?” He answered Maseo cryptically before addressing his brother.

“You shouldn’t be so hard on Kusanagi. He just doesn’t have the experience yet. His instincts are solid, you’ll see. Now, Miss Taniyama, what lead you to believe your attacker was European?”

“Well, I’ve never met anyone that tall before . . .” She muttered, looking up when no one responded and realized she’d struck everyone speechless before Takigawa and Ayako started snickering. Yasuhara and Maseo-san at least had slightly better composure, managing to keep straight faces, even though their eyes crinkled in amusement. Shibuya-san pinched the bridge of his nose. Mai flushed.

“It’s true! None of my classmates are taller than 5’6”!” Mai sat up straighter, defending herself.

“Miss Taniyama, nearly every man in this room is taller than that. Are you suggesting we’re all European?” Mai’s eyes flitted to each man in question. Honestly, only the detective was shorter than all the others.

“W - no.” She finally answered, deflating under his impassive stare. Both Detective Mako and Shibuya-san took notes. _Great; now they think I’m an idiot._

“Now that that is cleared up, perhaps, instead of wildly speculating and letting your imagination get away from you, you can just tell us what you actually saw.” Mai’s jaw dropped for a solid thirty seconds before it snapped shut with an audible click.

_What a jerk!_ Mai glared at him, her furious gaze burning into the top of his head daring him to say something else. He didn’t look up from his book, but Mai swore she saw a tiny smirk playing around the edge of his mouth. A throat clearing startled her out of the one-sided staring contest she’d been participating in, and she pivoted to face detective Mako once again while he was speaking.

“You got to the last room, thought you heard -” he flipped back to a previous page of notes. “Miss Kurosawa, turned around and saw your attacker. You’ve already told us he was tall.” Detective Mako gently steered the conversation away from Naru’s cutting remark. “What else can you remember?”

Mai took a fortifying breath, ready to finish this interview, this ordeal, when images of her attacker sprang to the forefront of her mind. She quickly shook her head. How could anyone accept what she’d seen as true? _She_ wasn’t even sure what she’d seen was real. Mai twisted her fingers, as her thoughts battled between what she’d seen and what it had to have been, because what she thought she’d seen was a monster. And monsters aren’t real. There was probably a psychological reason she’d seen - well, what she’d seen. Maybe her abductor had drugged her with something that causes hallucinations?

“You won’t believe me. If I hadn’t seen it myself, I wouldn’t believe me! I mean costumes are really authentic now, have you seen some of the most recent cosplays? And visual effects have come a long way, I’ve seen some of those fake prosthesis videos online, it’s actually kind of terrifying. God, You are all going to think I’m crazy. . .” She ranted, slouching back into the couch, glancing at the group again.

“Mai, trust me when I tell you that we’ve all seen our fair share of crazy.” Yasu consoled pulling her into a comforting side hug and using his free hand to clasp her jittery fingers. She pulled away just enough to look up at him and saw nothing but sincerity.

“Yeah, but there’s crazy and then there’s - you know _crazy_.” She lightly laughed, tucking her hair behind her ear.

“Let us be the judges of that, yeah?” Detective Mako comforted her, his face completely receptive, as if nothing she could say would make him think less of her. She glanced at the twins to see similar looks on their faces too. Well, at least with Maseo.

“Ok.” She nodded. “She were wearing a long dark cloak, with the hood pulled up. It covered everything, I mean, _everything_. I couldn’t see their hands, feet, or face because the sleeves and cloak were so long and the hood was pulled really far down. And they didn’t say anything at first, but eventually he asked if I wanted a red or blue cloak.” She swallowed, the memory making her uncomfortable. “Then he told me that I would look beautiful in red and tried to - to touch my face. He struck me when I slapped his hand away from me. That’s how I got this.” She gestured to the stitches on her left cheek. “His hands freaked me out because - because well, the skin, I think it was skin, looked scaly, not like a snake’s skin though, it was sort of bumpy and scaly? And stretched tightly to the bones, kinda pale and instead of fingers there were - he - he didn’t. . . have fingers. There were claws, like a birds.”

“NOPE! No, no, no, no! Bird claws?? Uh-uh, I hate birds. I’ve worked here for six months, I’ve been put through the wringer, but I draw the line at birds, you hear me?!?” Ayako shuddered in disgust as she finished her tirade and leaned in towards Takigawa, who, despite trying to hide it, was obviously pleased with the turn of events, as he casually slung his arm along the back of the couch.

“I dunno, I think they can be kinda pretty.” He tried to sooth her but she pulled away from him the moment he didn’t agree with her assessment.

“Pretty?!? Have you _seen_ Alfred Hitchcock’s _The Birds_ ? No? Then don’t talk to me about how birds are _‘pretty’_ !” she seethed, “They’re terrifying!” She situated herself away from him with a self satisfied _hmph,_ nose in the air. A superior flick of her wrist against her skirt swept away some insignificant speck of dirt none of them could see.

“Don’t you think it’s kind of ironic that the woman who communes with tree -”

“If you value your life four-eyes, you won’t finish that sentence!” Ayako quickly cut Yasu off, glaring harshly; a dusting blush the only sign of her embarrassment. Yasu just smirked, his eyes twinkling behind his glasses.

“Are you done with this pointless topic? Can we get back to the point at hand?” Naru stared down the two on the couch until they started shifting their weight around uncomfortably. He leveled them one more imperiously raised eyebrow, then turned back to Mai and indicated she should continue.

“It got more violent when I refused to answer the question. Picked me up by my throat and threw me into the wall like I weighed nothing. I think I confused it? When I wouldn’t choose a cloak.” She clarified when the detective glanced up for elaboration. “It seemed to forget I was there after I hit the wall because it kept pacing back and forth, mutter about needing to choose something and, um, something about satisfaction?”

Mai glanced apologetically at Detective Mako for not remembering completely, but he quickly waved her off. Taking a sip of tea, he indicated Mai should continue.

“I tried to sneak off while it wasn’t paying attention, but I uh,  kicked a pipe and fell over.” She admitted, feeling her cheeks heat up. “I got up before he got to me and tried to scare it off with the pipe. It just kept running at me, so I, uh, I swung the pipe as hard as I could. Honestly I don’t know how I hit it, my eyes were closed. I knocked it’s hood back a bit, and - No, this can’t be real! Right? It had to be special effects makeup! Or I was drugged!”

“Why can’t it be real? Do you have evidence to the contrary? Proof that this was all a staged hoax? A prank gone wrong? Or is it that you have been taught one way of thinking all your life, and now that you have had this experience, your fear is clouding your reasoning?”

Mai gaped at Shibuya for a moment.

“Because -  if it was real, we would have heard something about all this by now. Monsters running loose! There were five bodies down there, five women went missing and no one reported anything! I think something like that at least would have been on the news!”

Detective Mako and the twins exchanged several glances before Maseo-san spoke.

“We’re going to have to tell her if we want to solve this case. She won’t believe us, or what she saw, unless she knows the truth.” His brother rolled his eyes, but didn’t argue against it, so Maseo took that as a positive response. Detective Mako was more hesitant.

“The department heavily discourage revealing this kind of information if it can be avoided; but currently, it’s not illegal for citizens to know. . .”

Maseo interpreted that as an agreement and began.

“It’s not crazy Mai, _you’re_ not crazy. You heard Detective Mako just now: what we’re about to tell you, hasn’t been made public knowledge. The current elected officials think that if the masses caught wind of this it would start a panic. And they’re right. There’s a saying somewhere that one person can handle knowledge of the unusual, but tell the masses and they panic. We’ve seen it in countless cases, but we need to know what attacked you, and I think this will help you realize the truth. And come to terms with it. However, before we begin, we need your word that you can and will be discrete; keep this to yourself, tell absolutely nobody. Do you understand?”

She nodded, not trusting her voice in the solemnity of the moment, and grasped Yasu’s hand like a lifeline, suddenly terrified again. Somehow, Maseo looked much older, more worn as he began.

“It’s all real. Ghosts, monsters under the bed, demons, psychics, people with special abilities. You name it, we’ve found it. Uncommon in some circumstances, but very much real.” He paused briefly, gauging her reaction; when she didn’t run screaming from the room, he continued.

“Modern media would call us ghost hunters; and they’re right, to an extent. Our organization, S.S.P.R., the Society of Spiritual and Paranormal Research, is, on the surface, a research facility founded 15 years ago geared towards the study and explanation of paranormal phenomena; cold spots, why only certain individuals can see spirits and others can’t, how some spirits are able to interact with the world, you get the gist.”

“But it’s more than that. S.S.P.R. was initially founded in 1888 Whitechapel London to assist the police in hunting down a murderer. It’s founding members were a handful of the brightest intellectual minds at the time and a couple of psychics.” He nodded towards Lin and Mai looked. He’d turned his computer to show an old photograph of five people in traditional western clothing for the time period. Three men, two women. “Back then it was called _The Society_ , but they discovered vital evidence proving the existence of the paranormal through extensive research. With it they able to perform a seance, and then track down and stop the monster masquerading around as a man.”

“What was he? What did he do?” Mai whispered cautiously, as she leaned in, completely enraptured in the tale. Her teacup clutched forgotten between her hands.

“ A demon who was ‘just curious’.” He spat, disgust evident in his tone. “The story goes he possessed a man who sold him his soul, then murdered 5 women and brutally mutilated 4 of them.”

“How - wait - Jack the Ripper? You’re saying Jack the Ripper was actually a demon??”

“Yes. And after solving the case, they all felt compelled to research further. What else was out there hunting in the night? Was it possible that other murders and crimes were actually attributable to paranormal beings? Were innocent people locked up for crimes they truly didn’t commit? Unfortunately, no one would listen to their theories because Scotland Yard took all the credit before it became public knowledge that a group of private investigators help them. They discredited nearly every member, through whatever means they could, and attempted to run them all out of London.”

“What?” Mai yelped, “But, they helped! How could they do that?!”

“That’s what fear does, Mai.” Yasu cut in gently. “It took a catholic priest, a Chinese onmyouji, and a psychic to track down, exorcise, and banish Jack. None of the police could actually do anything. People who are used to being in power, used to having control of the situation, don’t like feeling out of their depth. They feared losing their jobs, their respect, and their lives.”

Maseo nodded in agreement, uncrossing and crossing his legs. Then he resumed his tale.

“The only member they really couldn’t touch was Sir Charles Eugene Davis, an extremely wealthy, slightly eccentric, but well loved member of parliament. No one would believe a word against him. So he decided the best course of action would be to integrate the disgraced members of The Society as part of his household staff; that way he could shield them from the fallout, and they continue investigating the unknown without interference. That’s how all of this got started. For the last one hundred years or so there’ve been scattered reports of intense, violent paranormal activities that have truly required investigation. But we’ve recently started recording a massive upswing in incidents. More and more occurrences around the world: old folk tales, monsters only seen in nightmares come to life, and occasionally those who have past on returning to haunt their loved ones out of the blue.”

After a brief pause, he continued.

“That’s why we created our global dispatch teams. They assess the the threat level, research the history, and act accordingly. Our headquarters may be based in London, but we work around the world from satellite headquarters to learn about the supernatural, study them, understand them, and if need be, fight them. When those situations escalate beyond a certain stage, we coordinate with the local police and governments to keep these kinds of situations contained.

Whatever you encountered in the Kanda River Tunnel was not human; It wasn’t someone wearing prothstetics, or using a voice modulator. And, while we can’t prove it without testing your blood, I’m positive you haven’t been drugged. We’re not sure what it is yet, so the more you can tell us about it, appearance, behavior, even smell, gives us clues that help narrow down what it is.”

Mai sat back with a huff, eyes glazed over and distant, processing everything that was just dumped on her. It was all real?

“Do you believe me?” Maseo asked after several minutes of her silence, his eyebrows pinched and forehead wrinkled in concerned disappointment.

“Oh, no. Wait!” She threw her hands up in front of her, eyes scrunched shut while shaking her head, and then continued on before anyone else could get a word in. “I mean, yes! Yes, I believe you.” Mai answered firmly, looking directly at Maseo so he could see she was being honest, “Sorry, just, you know, thinking about everything.”

She ran a distracted hand through her hair as she fell back into thought.

“Are you prepared to continue?” Shibuya asked, pen tapping against his notebook. Mai had barely nodded before he launched into questioning her again.

“Why did you say ‘it’?” He referenced a note he’d jotted down from her earlier description, then elaborated when she tilted her head to the side with a small head shake, not understanding him. “Initially when describing your abductor, you said he, then immediately switched to she, but later changed again to it. Why?”

“Oh, well, -” she paused, frustrated with her inability to describe exactly what had occured, “because, when it first spoke it sounded like Michiru, exactly like her. But when it complimented me, the voice sounded like a man’s. So, I don’t really know if it was a man or a woman.”

“Interesting; it possesses mimicry.”

“A Kitsune?”

“Doubtful, whatever attacked her doesn’t fit the description of one. It never changed shape, correct?”

Mai shook her head, and Shibuya began reviewing his notes.

“Hmmm. . . Tall, bird claw like fingers, relatively thin, but strong enough to both pick up Miss Taniyama and through her across a room. Obsessed with the legend of Aka Manto. Potentially possesses the ability to render it’s target unconscious. Anything else?”

“Yes. I - I _think_.” Mai stressed her uncertainty, then took a deep, steadying breath, and said in a rush, “I saw its face.”

“You did? And?” The detective was quick to prompt her, shifting to the edge of his seat.

“It was right after I hit it with the pipe. I got closer to see if it was alive and the hood had fallen back some.” Mai wiped her palms across her thighs a few times, and then stated bluntly. “It looked like a cross between a person and a bird.”

Ayako squealed in disgust, while everyone else’s faces morphed into varying looks of horror or concern. Except for Lin and Shibuya; Mai was starting to think nothing rattled those two.

“Oh! Also, it doesn’t likes sunlight. It was in the room with me, but ran when you all blew the door off its hinges and the light came in. It’s skin blistered.”

“Interesting. Perhaps we’ve found something new.” Shibuya’s voice lilted slightly, as if pleased with the development. Mai thought it was the first time she’d heard him sound enthusiastic rather than sarcastic about something. Even though his face still looked expressionless, his eyes were shining.

“How are you excited about this? A murdering bird person is on the loose!”

“We could potentially be the first to find something altogether previously undiscovered. To my current knowledge, what you’re describing doesn’t correlate to anything we’ve documented in the past. Despite the atrocities committed, the pull of discovery is intoxicating.”

“That’s a very clinical way of thinking about it.”

“That’s boss man!”

The front door flew open, banging against the wall, the inset glass rattling slightly from the force and Detective Kusanagi burst in panting and yelling, bringing the stale smell of cigarettes with him.

“They found the other two girls!”


End file.
